World War I claimed the life of Burwell Jackson, but not before the Kinston native distinguished himself in service to his country.

Jackson served in the American 1st Infantry Division and saw action in France at the battle of Soissons, where he was killed on July 19, 1918.

According to an account of the events compiled by Mark Jackson, a great-nephew of Jackson’s, the battle began at 4:35 a.m. and was the first action for many of the soldiers.

Over the course of the next three days, one in four would die in the French countryside.

Mark writes that the Germans had machine-gun nests placed around the hills and American forces launched a surprise attack on their positions. It was here that Jackson, according to eyewitness reports, displayed courage as his unit was pinned down by one of the machine-gun emplacements.

“Alone, Burwell approached the obstacle,” Mark wrote, “and single-handedly killed two of the German soldiers, captured three others, neutralized the machine-gun and cleared the way for his unit to advance.”

Later that day, as Jackson’s unit passed through the village of Missy-aux-Bois, they encountered heavy German resistance. Jackson attempted to capture another machine-gun nest, but this time he was killed.

Jackson posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross, America’s second-highest honor for valor, for his actions that day.

Bud Vick, another great-nephew of Jackson’s said, after reading the surviving letters Jackson sent home from France, he has a sense of who the man was.

“He’s the most cheerful young man,” Vick said. “He’s in France, which for many people would have been a brutal environment, and it’s all like a big adventure to him.”

Vick said the last letter sent dates July 11, 1918, and was chilling because of what would happen just a week later.

“He was really itching to see some action,” Vick said. “But he was dead before the letter ever reached home.”

Jackson’s remains were never recovered, but he is commemorated in the chapel of the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France, along with other unknown Americans. A tombstone sits atop an empty grave in the Jackson family cemetery beside the Pink Hill Road home where Jackson was born in 1896.